The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and political leader of a branch of Tibetan Buddhism called the Gelug or the ‘yellow hat’. Throughout the years there have been fourteen Dalai Lamas who are a crucial part of the Tibetan Buddhists religion. Historically the Dalai Lamas role is being the chief or high priest of Tibetan Buddhism. Religiously the Dalai Lama is thought to be a manifestation of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara . When a Dalai Lama dies they search the country for the reincarnated Dalai Lama in the form of a newborn baby. During the 17th and 20th century the Dalai Lama directed the Tibetan government, which controlled parts of Tibet from Lhasa. The current Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso remained the head of state for the central Tibetan Administration until his retirement on March 14th, 2011. The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso was born on the 6th of July, 1935 in Taktser Qinghai. Tenzin Gyatso was discovered to be the rebirth of the 13th Dalai Lama at age two but he was not officially recognised as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama till he was aged fifteen years old.
Tenzin Gyatso has three main commitments that he would like to see completed during his lifetime. The first of the three main commitments is the promotion of human values for example the values of compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline. This commitment aims to teach people that all humans are the same. The second commitment is the campaign for religious tolerance and harmony, this commitment intentions are to create a level of religious understanding between the world’s major religious traditions; an understanding which is that they can all exist corporately and tolerantly at the same time. The third and most important commitment to the current Dalai Lama is the Tibetan issue, which is His holiness the Dalai Lama aims to make the greater world aware of the Tibetans struggle for justice and to help intervene into China’s